About COOi Climate Tech

Today, business finds itself in a difficult geopolitical backdrop of; increasing legal and regulatory pressure, higher carbon costs, climate-induced business disruption and an unstable economic and political climate. As society increasingly feels the impacts of climate change, we began to ask businesses 'what is your actionable response to addressing climate change?' In order to be sustainable, businesses will need to rethink, reimagine and reconfigure themselves to be organised for sustainable growth in the future. In this process, the role of technology in resetting and reconfiguring for an inclusive net zero future is imperative. Many of the commitments made by business are part-way contingent on bets that technological or business model breakthroughs will be implemented and scaled in time. At COOi we have built and are continuously co-creating with large enterprises, various solutions using emerging technologies under our new business arm 'climate tech' named COOi Climate Tech. Our new business's objective alongside large enterprises is;

Developing new approaches towards low-greenhouse gas (GHG) energy generation across the value chain; storage, transport, business processes and land use
Reimagining business models that use less resources and introduce circular models of consumption
Deriving actionable insights through better collection, storage and analytical use of data

We have developed new and cheaper technologies that can help companies reduce their CO2 emissions. As organisations require faster and bolder innovations in climate tech, we leverage our start-up ecosystem which is geared to deliver fast- growing, highly scalable solutions with a technological edge, which is exactly what is needed now for climate. We believe that environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact reporting is beyond compliance, but rather we see sustainability data as a tool to provide actionable insights that introduce competitiveness but most importantly drive growth for large enterprises. Together with large enterprises, we seek to make climate change response actionable by implementing relevant climate technologies.

Speakers

Presenters at COOi Climate Tech Launch

Sandiso Sibisi

Studios Director

@COOi Studios

Sandiso is an innovator and entrepreneur, with over 10 years experience in technology consulting. She is the former Head of Open Innovation (Africa) at Accenture and has led tech implementations, data strategy, cost reductions assignments in the Consumer Goods sector. She is the founder of COOi Studios, an innovation lab for corporations. Amongst other accolades she is a Sustainable Development Goals ambassador, One Young World Ambassador, Mzansi’s 100 Inspiring and Aspiring Leaders, a Play Your Part Ambassador with Brand South Africa, an Inspiring Fifty Women in Tech and a Mandela Washington Fellow. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce majoring Information Systems (Honours) from Wits University and has a Certificate of Social Entrepreneurship from INSEAD Business School. Sandiso is currently a Masters of Management- Innovation Studies candidate at Wits University.

We have applied artificial intelligence, machine learning, internet of things and 3D printing in developing our software and hardware solutions. Our co-creation ethos was upheld in the development process as we worked closely with our existing clients to develop these solutions, product-market-fit is very important to us.

Themba Mkhwanazi

Chief Executive Officer of Bulk Commodities & Non-Executive Director of Kumba Iron Ore

@Anglo American’s Global Bulk Commodities

Themba joined the Kumba board in 2016 as an executive director, following his appointment as the Chief Executive Officer of Anglo American’s Global Bulk Commodities business with effect from 1 January 2022, he now serves as a non-executive director on the Kumba Board. Themba is also a member of the Anglo American Group Management Committee (GMC). Themba holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Chemical Engineering and is the Vice President of the Minerals Council of South Africa. Themba held the position of CEO of Kumba Iron Ore from September 2016 to 31 December 2021. He was also the CEO of Anglo American’s coal business in South Africa from May 2014 to 1 September 2016. He previously held the position of Rio Tinto’s regional general manager for the Americas, responsible for delivering technical and operational improvements across Rio Tinto’s businesses in the region. Themba has held a number of senior roles within the resources industry, including COO of Richards Bay Minerals where he was responsible for Safety, Technical, Engineering, Mining, Smelting and processing operations. Prior to that, he was a managing director with the Huntsman Corporation in South Africa. Themba’s full list of positions have included process engineer at Sasol; shift plant manager, business improvement senior coach, plant manager, area manager and MD of Huntsman Tioxide; COO Richards Bay Minerals; and Rio Tinto Coal Australia GM expansion support and Americas region GM technology and innovation at Rio Tinto. Themba also serves as a non-executive director on the board of Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited.

COOi Climate Tech Launch

COOi Studios expands its offering leveraging its design, technology and innovation capability to support large enterprises to solve for climate change

COOi Studios, a Technology Innovation Advisory, founded and directed by Sandiso Sibisi invites media representatives to the launch of their new business arm, COOi Climate Tech Launch. The launch will offer you a first hand experience of the hardware and software technology solutions developed for combating climate change. The solutions have been co-created with South Africa's large enterprises using artificial intelligence, machine learning, internet of things and 3D printing and are locally designed and produced by COOi Studios, a small black youth female owned business.

Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2023

Time: 12:00 - 14:00 SAST

Venue: The Silo Hotel, V&A Waterfront

To join this much needed conversation, register on Mining Indaba to attend.